Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 498 km round trip from Alpera - roughly 11 h 08 in the saddle. The stops in between: Peñon de los machos, Abrigo de Rosser, Cova de la Petxina and Barranc de la Penya Blanca. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cueva del Queso
Alpera is a farming town of about two thousand three hundred people on the high, wind-swept plain of southern Albacete, where La Mancha slides toward the Valencian hills. It is famous in the archaeology books for the Cueva de la Vieja, a shelter with a dense frieze of Levantine paintings, among the most celebrated in Spain, and the Cueva del Queso, the Cheese Cave, is one of its neighbours. Together these belong to the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, a UNESCO site since 1998.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cueva del Queso is where the day begins. Next is Peñon de los machos.
2. Peñon de los machos
Cofrentes is a village at the confluence of two rivers, the Júcar and the Cabriel, in the interior of Valencia province, and it has a curious mix of attractions. Above it stands a castle on a crag. Nearby rises the Cerro de Agrás, the only recently active volcano in the Valencian Community, a dark cone of basalt in a landscape of limestone. And just outside the village, the cooling towers of the Cofrentes nuclear power station send plumes of steam into the sky. The Peñón de los Machos, a rocky outcrop with painted shelters, lies in the hills between Cofrentes, Jalance and Jarafuel.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Peñon de los machos comes up about 56 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de Rosser.
3. Abrigo de Rosser
Near Bicorp, in the dry, folded hills of inland Valencia, one of the most famous images in prehistoric art was found in 1920: a figure clinging to ropes on a cliff, reaching into a hole surrounded by bees, a honey gatherer painted thousands of years ago in the Cuevas de la Araña. The Abrigo de Rosser lies in the same rugged area of the Canal de Navarrés and the Júcar gorges, one of many shelters with Levantine paintings in this region, and together they form part of the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. Bicorp has a small interpretation centre, and guided visits to some shelters can be arranged.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 130 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de Rosser. Next is Cova de la Petxina.
4. Cova de la Petxina
Bellús is a small village in the valley of the Albaida river in southern Valencia, just upstream from where the river flows into a reservoir and then joins the Júcar. The old village was partly flooded by the reservoir, and the new one stands on higher ground. The Cova de la Petxina, the cave of the shell, is in the hills near the village, close to Guadasequies and Genovés.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cova de la Petxina, about halfway. Next is Barranc de la Penya Blanca.
5. Barranc de la Penya Blanca
Planes is a small village in the hills of the Comtat in northern Alicante province, crowned by a castle and looking out over a valley of olive and cherry orchards. The Barranc de la Penya Blanca, the ravine of the white rock, lies close by, among the folded limestone ridges between Planes, Benimarfull and the reservoir at Beniarrés.